STATE PAPERS. 



417 



scope of his policy," yet no repa- 

 ration has been made or offered, 

 for many outrages, indignities, and 

 insults he has inflicted on our go- 

 vernment, nor for the unnumbered 

 millions of which he has plundered 

 our citizens. And when we con- 

 sider the course of policy pursued 

 by our rulers, in their external re- 

 lations and commercial restrictions, 

 from the prohibition of our trade to 

 St. Domingo, to the declaration of 

 war against Great Britain — that the 

 course often received his open ap- 

 probation, and was not unfre- 

 quently conformable to the system 

 which he himself had adopted — 

 when we consider also, the myste- 

 rious secrecy which has veiled the 

 correspondence of the two govern- 

 ments from our view — and, above 

 all, when we consider, that, in many 

 instances, the most important mea- 

 sures of our government have been 

 anticipated in Paris, long before 

 they were known to the American 

 people, we cannot conceal our 

 anxiety and alarm for the honour 

 and independence of our country. 

 And we most fervently pray, that 

 the sacrifices we have already made, 

 like the early concessions of Spain 

 and Portugal, of Prussia and Swe- 

 den, may not be the preludes to 

 new demands and new concessions; 

 and that we may be preserved from 

 all political connexion with the 

 common enemy of civil liberty. 



To the constituted authorities 

 of our country, we have now stated 

 our opinions, and made known our 

 complaints — opinions the result of 

 deliberate reflection,andcomplaints 

 <• wrung from us by the tortures 

 of that cruel policy" wliich has 

 brought the good people of the 

 commonwealth to the verge of 

 ruin. A policy which has anni- 



VoL. LV. 



hilated the commerce so essential 

 to their prosperity — increased their 

 burdens, whilst it has diminished 

 their means of support — provided 

 for the establishment of an im- 

 mense standing army, dangerous 

 to their liberties, and irreconcile- 

 able with the genius of their con- 

 stitution—destroyed their just and 

 constitutional weight in the general 

 government — and, by involving 

 them in a disastrous war, has placed 

 in the power of the enemy, the 

 control of the fisheries ; a trea- 

 sure of more value to the country 

 than all the territories for which 

 we are contending, and which fur- 

 nished tho only means of subsist- 

 ence to thousands of our citizens— 

 the greaternursery of our seamen— • 

 and the right to which can never 

 be abandoned by New England. 



Under such circumstances, si- 

 lence towards the government 

 would be treachery to the public. 

 In making this solemn represen- 

 tation of our sufferings and our 

 dangers, we have been influenced 

 only by the duty which we owe to 

 our constituents and our country, 

 to our consciences, and the me- 

 mory of our fathers. And to the 

 Searcher of all hearts, we appeal, 

 for the purity of our motives, and 

 the sincerity of our declarations. 



Far from wishing to embarrass 

 the administration in any of their 

 negociations for peace, we cannot 

 but express our regret that they 

 should not have evinced a sincere 

 desire for this great object, by 

 accepting some of the repeated 

 overtures made by the enemy, for 

 the suspension of hostilities. — And 

 permit us, in conclusion, most ear- 

 nestly to request, that measures 

 may immediately be adopted, to 

 stay the fword of the destroyer, 



2E 



